BEREA, Ohio – As another NFL training camp opened, Tori Gurley found himself in a familiar position Thursday – within earshot of the crowd’s applause, but not the object of their affection.

The tall, athletic receiver ran routes and caught passes on an adjacent practice field along with others fighting for a roster spot while veterans and top prospects scrimmaged 11-on-11 to the delight of Browns fans. He donned a jersey number (9) more befitting a quarterback and a nameplate that catches the eye in a testosterone-charged sport.

Gurley got an opportunity late in practice in front of the entire coaching staff and made a nice grab over the middle in a 7-on-7 drill. Asked later if it’s difficult to spend long stretches on fields removed from the discerning eyes of the decision makers, the 25-year-old smiled broadly.

“I had a great practice down there,” the South Carolina product said. “When they put on the tape, that’s my resume.”

It’s a resume that features stops in Green Bay, Minnesota, Oakland, Tampa Bay, San Diego and Baltimore in the past two years. It also reflects time spent at Home Depot and Thompson Caterpillar, where he learned to stretch a buck to support his ailing grandmother.

“I don’t need to watch that ESPN 30 for 30 ‘Broke’ to understand how to manage my money,” Gurley said. “I’ve made a few dollars, but if I get cut I can’t be living the life some other guys lead. I pinch pennies and clip coupons.”

Gurley is among the roster fillers in training camps trying to establish themselves in the league. Fans don’t recognize their faces or shout out their names for autographs.

When introduced to a reporter Thursday by a member of the Browns media relations staff, Gurley joked: “What do you want to talk to me for? I’m a scrub.”

The Browns represent his seventh NFL organization since the Packers signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2011. He’s made five practice squads and proven he’s good enough to wear team-issued gear Monday through Saturday. Gurley, however, still awaits his first regular-season game.

"It hurts just as much every time," he said of getting released. "But it motivates you. Are you going to get better or get worse?"

He is among 12 receivers in camp vying for six spots. Greg Little, Josh Gordon, Davone Bess and Travis Benjamin appear to be locks, and David Nelson is a good bet presuming his surgically repaired right knee cooperates.

“The hardest part about this league is getting in,” said Bess, who made the Miami Dolphins in 2008 as an undrafted free agent. “You have to stand out from an attention-to-detail standpoint. You can’t mess up. You have to capitalize on every opportunity because you don’t get many.”

Getting cut six times would discourage many players, but Gurley’s spirit seems indomitable. His mother tells the story how the late Eddie Kendricks -- the original tenor of the Temptations -- touched her belly when she was pregnant with Gurley and told her, “there’s a star in your stomach.”

The multi-sport prep standout comes from good stock. His late father, Norris Gurley, played basketball at Virginia Tech. His godfather is former NBA veteran Dell Curry and his good friend is Golden State star guard Steph Curry.

North Carolina offered the 6-foot-4, 230-pounder a scholarship to play football with a promise that he could compete for a spot on the Tar Heels basketball team. But Gurley did not qualify academically.

“I was so good in sports I thought somehow my grades were magically going to change and I was going to be a college athlete,” Gurley said. “I was humbled.”

He moved from Rock Hill, S.C. to Birmingham, Ala., to help his grandmother for a year. He joined the labor force, working in the flooring department at Home Depot and in the mailroom at Thompson Caterpillar, before giving college another shot.

Gurley earned a scholarship at South Carolina after attending a New Hampshire prep school, but his decision to declare for the 2011 NFL Draft following his redshirt sophomore year was ill advised.

“I was a 21-year-old freshman,” he said. “I thought it was time and maybe it really wasn’t. I’m looking at Brandon Weeden and he’s older than me. I thought I knew it all.”

Gurley spent the entire 2011 season with the Packers and made a 54-yard catch in a preseason game last August. But he careened from practice squad to practice squad last year, earning $5,700 a week when he was on a roster.

“If I wasn’t talented enough the phone wouldn’t ring,” Gurley said. “There’s a lot of guys who get a whiff of it and that’s it. I have been able to flirt.”

His fiance, Brie Dixon, a med student at Wake Forest, remains supportive, but Gurley acknowledges a return to college and a career in coaching is a possibility. He can do the math and knows the other prospects are several years younger.

If he quit today, he’d have enough NFL gear to stock a sporting goods store. But Gurley, a six-day a week football player, longs for his shot at Sundays and the stadium’s roar.

“My time is going to come,” he said. “And, I’m very optimistic it’s going to be now.”

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